The Legend of Rose Tyler
by montypython203
Summary: AU. Set in Pete's World. Edith Black is a volunteer at the local nursing home, where she assigned to a resident whose story she will never forget.
1. Chapter 1

_Title: The Legend of Rose Tyler _

_Rating: K _

_Summary: AU. Set in Pete's World. Edith Black is a volunteer at the local nursing home, where she is assigned to a resident whose story she'll never forget. Based on the format of the miniseries **Casanova**._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. _

_Author's Note: Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, but I've realised just how much homework you get in Year 12. Anyway, I've had this idea for a while, and decided to finally get it down. It'll probably only be about 3 chapters._

**The Legend of Rose Tyler**

My name is Edith Black. I'm 19 years old, I have brown hair, blue eyes … oh hell, you don't need to know much about me, because this story isn't about me. Well, it is but it isn't. It's about the most life-changing experience I've ever had. It's about the day I met Rose Tyler.

I'd volunteered to do some work down at the local nursing home. My gran used to live there, so I knew the grounds well enough. It was all worked out – I'd do some cleaning, talk to the residents, and walk out with a few brownie points on my CV. So first I had to be assigned to a resident.

"You'll be with … Rose Tyler," murmured the receptionist. My eyes widened at the name.

"Any relation?" I asked excitedly.

"To who?" asked the receptionist, obviously quite bored.

"_The_Rose Tyler!" I exclaimed. "There was this woman, years ago. They called her the Defender of the Earth." The receptionist shrugged, then told me the way to Rose Tyler's room. As I walked up the stairs, I gulped. I'd read about Rose Tyler years beforehand. Whenever there was a news report or newspaper article about a possible alien invasion, there was her name. Of course, all that stuff was from the archives. There hadn't been any mention of her in years. Finally I approached her room, and knocked.

"Come in," said a voice. Slowly opening the door, I walked in. There was an old woman sitting up in bed. In front of her was a tray that was full of scattered papers. I noticed that some had pictures on them.

"M-Mrs Tyler?" I stammered.

"It's Miss, dear," said the woman. "Please, take a seat. They told me you were coming." Nervously I sat down next to the bed.

"Are you really her?" I asked. "The woman who worked for years to defend the world from alien invasions?"

"What do you think?" asked the woman, a smile forming on her wrinkled face. I studied her. There was something about her eyes that made her look … different. Her being old, there were obviously years of experience in them, but I also saw something that I couldn't explain.

"You are, aren't you?" I whispered. "But … blimey, how old are you?"

"One hundred and twenty years old," answered Rose. "I've had a long life."

"You look pretty good for it," I admitted. "So what are all these papers and things?"

"I've decided to write the story of the 2 years of my life that changed me forever," explained Rose. "I have so many memories from those years that I want immortalised."

"But what about the rest of your life? You must have done so much more," I said. "I've read about all the aliens you helped to defeat. Apparently you killed some of them quite easily."

"In that case, it was because I'd faced them before," said Rose. "In those fateful 2 years, I learned things I'd never forget." She indicated towards the papers.

"Will you tell me about it?" I asked, hunching forward. "It sounds so extraordinary."

"If you wish," said Rose, who began rummaging through her papers, until she pulled out a photo. "Here we go. This is a picture of me, taken when I was 19 years old."

"That's my age," I commented. I then looked at the picture. It wasn't a very good one. It was taken through some bushes, and the young Rose wasn't even looking at the camera.

"You were very beautiful," I said. "But don't you have a better picture than this?" Rose shook her head.

"That's the earliest surviving picture of me," she said. "All the others are gone. The only reason I have this one is, well, if I told you that it'd be out of sequence with the rest of the story. Let's just wait 'til we get to it."

"Okay," I said, nodding. "Go ahead."

And so Rose Tyler talked. She began with a bit of a background to her life, then told me about being trapped in the basement of a department store, with shop-window dummies coming towards her.

"Get out," I said.

"My dear, you're going to hear a lot today that sounds unbelievable," said Rose. "Just let me speak, then you can make up your mind as to whether my story is true or not." I sighed.

"Okay," I said. "Please continue."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"He looked at me, his blue eyes boring into mine. 'I could save the world but lose you', he said." I gasped.

"What happened next?" I asked, almost afraid of what would happen.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As Rose kept speaking, I found myself imagining these scenarios in my head. I could almost picture this Doctor in my head, with younger Rose by his side. My head was filled with quotes from Rose Tyler's adventures.

"_What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"_

"_I only take the best. I've got Rose."_

"_Just … tell me you're sorry."_

"_I can dance!"_

I giggled as I thought of Captain Jack. He sounded like one cool (and hot!) guy. But then the story got a whole lot more serious. In the year 200 100, Rose, the Doctor and Jack were on the Gamestation. And right next to them were thousands of Daleks. The way Rose described them just made me _loathe_ them.

" 'Do that for me Rose. Have a fantastic life'," quoted Rose. Tears came to my eyes, as well as hers.

"I can't believe he did that," I said softly. "To keep you safe."

"That's what the Doctor was like," said Rose. "Always putting others before himself. But I wasn't taking that. My fantastic life was with _him_."

"So what did you do?" I asked. Rose smiled.

"I couldn't remember at first, but about a week later it came back to me," she said. "It was a little hazy at first, but even now it's clear as day. I mean, who could forget something as intense as staring into the heart of the TARDIS?" I gaped.

"You_what_?!" I exclaimed

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"I could feel the power running through my head. I was burning, but I couldn't let go," described Rose. "The Doctor knew I couldn't hold on much longer. He looked into my eyes, and do you know what he said?" I shook my head.

"_I think you need a Doctor." _

I squealed, which is very uncommon for me. Rose, sensing my excitement, continued.

"Then he stepped up to me, he closed his eyes, and…"

"He kissed you!" I cried, unable to contain my thoughts. "He kissed you, right?" Rose nodded. "Oh my god! Like, the way you were telling the story, I always hoped … but I never imagined … you kissed an alien!"

"It wasn't just a kiss," said Rose. "The time vortex flowed from me into him. But it's a very bad thing for a Time Lord to have all that power inside him, as I was soon to find out." My eyes widened. What did she mean?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"The flames were engulfing him, and there was nothing I could do," said Rose. "Beneath them, I noticed that his features were changing." I cocked my head to one side. "Then, when it was over, there was a completely different man standing in the Doctor's place." I couldn't take it any longer.

"WHAT!" From the room next to ours, a nurse came round.

"Shh, you'll wake the other residents!" she said. I looked down sheepishly. When the nurse had gone, I looked back at Rose.

"What?" I whispered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_That's all for now. And don't worry – this _will_ be more than a recount of events._


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for all your reviews! This chapter's a little longer, and I changed Edith's personality a bit (she's a lot more like a teenage girl now). I hope you like it._

After impatiently waiting for Rose to get back from the toilet (I guess you can't blame her, being a hundred and twenty and all), she was finally ready to keep going.

"This new man looked at me and grinned," she said. "I can't describe how scared I was. The man that I'd known for so long now, who'd become my best friend and maybe even more … had been replaced by this stranger. And the strangest thing was that he knew who I was. He knew how to work the TARDIS, and he knew about Barcelona."

"How?" I asked. Nothing prepared me for Rose's answer.

"He was the Doctor."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I can't imagine how hard it must have been for Rose to adjust to a new face, new body and new personality (although, from the way she described him, he sounded pretty hot!). Even today I can't quite get my head around the whole concept of 'regeneration'. I know from Biology at school that some plants regenerate after a bushfire or something, but they never turn out looking completely different. Anyway, the New Doctor had all these different traits. For one thing, he ate Christmas dinner with Rose's family! What happened to 'I don't do domestic'? Another difference was that he tended to flirt a lot more with Rose. Okay, so the way Rose described it to me I can tell she was trying to be subtle, but it's so obvious! She told me about how he took her to New Earth, and how they lay in the apple grass together. Then she went on to tell me about meeting Cassandra again, and what she did in her body.

"The feeling is so hard to describe," said Rose. "I was like a puppet. I could still see what was going on, but I had no control over what I was doing. And the longer Cassandra stayed inside my head, the smaller and smaller my mind shrank away. I was being compressed inside my own head!"

"That trampoline could have killed you!" I exclaimed, picking up a glass of water and drinking it.

"Ah, but Cassandra did something whilst inside me that I wouldn't have experienced otherwise," said Rose. "She…"

I dropped my glass.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rose's adventures with the Doctor were a lot more dramatic this time round. I couldn't believe he'd travelled with other companions before, although I still firmly believe that Rose was the only one he ever cared for, especially after:

_"Humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you…"_

I just wish he could have finished that sentence! I never thought I was one for romances, but when you're presented with a love story this beautiful, this epic, you can't help but be enticed.

"Rose," I said. "This Doctor sounds so perfect. Like, I know you said he could be intense, or sad, or scary, but the one thing he sounds very much like is loyal. To you." Rose laughed.

"It's funny you say that," she said. "Because now I'm going to tell you the story of Madame de Pompadour."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I can't count the number of times I uttered 'bitch' during Rose's adventure in the 51st century. Rose kept telling me to watch my language, but I knew she was feeling the same thing. I much preferred her adventure in the 1950s, where she got to go on a motor scooter (apparently it's this really old type of transport) with the Doctor, plus they shared this adorable hug. I've never had a boyfriend, but if I get half as much attention and love from him as the Doctor gave to Rose, then I'll be happy. And yet, as her story went on, I kept wondering why it was that it was only 2 years that Rose spent with the Doctor, who she obviously cared for a great deal.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"The TARDIS was gone, and we were stranded," recounted Rose. "Centuries from home, orbiting a black hole. I was worried, but I tried not to let it show. I remember discussing with the Doctor that we'd have to go back to Earth and settle down."

"That would have been hell for him," I said.

"Yeah, and for me too, having to give everything up, plus never seeing my mum again," said Rose. "But then there was this other part of me, this tiny little part that was wishing the Doctor wouldn't get the TARDIS back, and that we'd have to get jobs and houses and mortgages."

"Why?" I asked, confused. Rose blushed. I frowned, then got an idea.

"Did you want to live with him?" I asked suggestively.

"So then the Doctor went down to the planet…" said Rose, apparently not hearing me. I didn't bother asking the question again. I didn't need to.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was at the mention of ghosts that Rose became a little uneasy. She was shifting around a lot, and every word seemed harder to say. It was then that I became worried that the end was near; that the approaching storm the Doctor had spoken of had finally come. And what a twist! Cybermen _and _Daleks! I could tell that this was going to be a tough battle for Rose and the Doctor.

" 'That's why you have to go'," said Rose, quoting the Doctor. " 'Back to Pete's World'. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave the Doctor at a time like this."

"It sounds just like when he sent you away from the Gamestation," I remarked.

"It was," admitted Rose. "When the danger got too much, the first thing he made sure of was that I was safe. And do you know what he did? He took the transporter and placed it around my neck without my knowing. But after everyone teleported across, I came back for him." I smiled.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"My palms became sweaty as I held onto that lever," said Rose, a fire in her eyes. "The howling wind of the Void was beckoning to me, but I was determined not to let go. I could see the Doctor looking on from his position in the hope that everything would be all right." Rose closed her eyes, and a single tear made its way down her cheek.

"I slipped."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I felt somehow personally responsible for what happened to Rose. Maybe it was because it was John Lumic from _my_ universe who had created the Cybermen. Maybe it was because it was Pete from _my _universe who had torn Rose away from the Doctor (even though he prevented her from falling into the Void). Or maybe it was because I'd gotten so close to Rose in just a couple of hours that I felt her pain. Whatever the reason, I was crying. I cried as she described her anguish as she banged her fist against the wall. I cried as she spent weeks in her new world with nothing to live for. But most of all, I cried as she said her goodbye on Bad Wolf Bay.

"It was hard on me," admitted Rose, wiping away a tear. "But I plucked up the courage to ask him if there was any chance I could see him again." I knew what the answer would be even before she said that the Doctor had replied in the negative.

"Go on," I said.

"I knew this was my last chance to say what was in my heart," said Rose. "Through my tears, I managed to choke it out. I said to him 'I love you'."

"Oh God," I said, the tears streaming down my face. "What did he say?"

" 'Quite right too'," said Rose, choking on her words. " 'And I suppose … if it's my last chance to say it…" I gulped. "… Rose Tyler…' "

"What? What?" I asked. "What happened next?"

"Nothing," said Rose. "He'd vanished. The gap was closed. Forever."

"Oh no," I said. Rose nodded sadly.

"That's the reason I don't have any pictures," she said. "Everything I had was left in the TARDIS or in my room back on the Powell Estate. The only reason I had the picture was that it was the one Elton had, and my mum found it scrunched up in her pocket after we came through to this universe." I was speechless. This woman had been through absolute hell.

"Um … do you mind if I put the telly on?" I asked, hoping to have some time to recover from everything Rose had told me. I got the remote and switched on the news.

_"And this just in – in downtown London, a large group of people has appeared out of nowhere. No one knows who they are or where they came from. The local church has opened its heart to the new arrivals, providing them with living quarters for the time being. Reporter Sally Sparrow is on the scene."_

Rose and I exchanged glances as the camera centred on a young woman inside the church.

"_Thank you Kathy. Well as you can see behind me, there are people of all races, ages and genders who are now seeking refuge here in the church. Many of the people keeping insisting that this is their normal London, only to go outside and scratch their heads whilst looking at the zeppelins. All the arrivals are being given health checks, however there was one elderly man who kept refusing to have one and insisted that he be allowed to leave, though it is imperative that no one leaves until they have been identified and the proper paperwork has been filled out. If anyone knows anything about these people, please call 1300 653 231 or visit the church. Back to you, Kathy."_

Rose looked like she was having a heart attack, and who could blame her?

"Rose, please calm down," I told her. "Deep breaths, come on…"

"It's a sign," Rose said. "Those people, they _must _be from a parallel universe, from _my _universe. And the Doctor – he'll be with them…"

"You don't know that for sure," I said, trying not to get the poor woman's hopes up. "Even if they are from a parallel universe, the Doctor has the whole of time and space at his disposal, what are the odds that he'd be there?"

"I've got to go to the church," said Rose defiantly. "I've got to see if he's there…" The nurse came into the room.

"What's going on here?" she asked.

"I've got to leave," said Rose. "The Doctor…"

"The doctor wants you to stay in bed," said the nurse. She then turned to me. "Have you been filling her head with ideas?"

"What? No…" I began.

"Don't give me that," said the nurse. "Young people don't do the elderly any good. You fill their heads with ideas, making them think they can do anything. The next thing you know they need a hip replacement. Miss Tyler is to stay here in bed." Rose looked around desperately.

"Can I at least use the phone?" she asked. "It's an emergency!" The nurse sighed.

"Very well," she said. "But make it quick." Rose reached towards the phone and dialled madly. She raised the phone to her ear in hope, but soon hung up again.

"Answering machine," she said bleakly. "Says the line opens again at nine in the morning."

"What's so important that you need to call again tomorrow?" asked the nurse suspiciously.

"Nothing," said Rose, sighing. "Well Edith, I think you'd better leave now." I checked my watch. I'd been there almost 3 hours!

"Yes, I suppose I should," I said, somewhat disappointed. Don't get me wrong – fantastic epic tale of aliens and monsters and spaceships and time travel, but the tragic ending didn't do me any good. I got up to leave.

"I'll come back tomorrow, yeah?" I said. Rose nodded, and with that I made my way out of the nursing home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_The final part should be up soon._


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for all your reviews. This is the last chapter._

I wasn't due to see Rose until the afternoon, so the next morning I decided to go to the church. I _had _to find out the truth. I was extremely nervous as I made the bus ride. A million different thoughts whizzed around my head.

_What's wrong with you Edith? _I thought to myself. _You've only known this woman for a day, and now you're getting all involved in her world. _I guess it was just like when Rose first met the Doctor – she had to find out more, even if it meant abandoning everything she ever knew. So anyway, I finally arrived at the church. Police cars were parked out the front – obviously to interview the new arrivals. I made my way through and into the church. It was packed with people. How was I supposed to find whatever I was looking for?

I took a deep breath and yelled out, "Doctor!". No one responded, so I made my way through the people, continuing to shout.

"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" I continued. A few medical men approached me, so I tried a different approach.

"TARDIS!" I cried. "Doctor! TARDIS! Uh, Gallifrey?" I reached the back of the hall and sat down, putting my head in my hands. But just when I'd given up hope, a girl who looked a little younger than me approached me.

"Excuse me?" she said. "Were you the person yelling for the Doctor?" I turned towards the girl in hope.

"What do you know about the Doctor?" I questioned, making sure we were talking about the same thing.

"I've been travelling with him," said the girl. "My name's Emily." She looked at me for a second, then gasped.

"Are you her?" she asked.

"Who?" I said. After a few seconds, we both said the same thing:

"Rose." We laughed for a second, then went quiet again.

"No, but I'm a friend of hers," I explained. Emily sighed.

"I didn't think you were her – you didn't fit the Doctor's description," she said. "But you looked the right age." I frowned, then realised what Emily meant.

"Oh yeah, she was about my age when they were separated," I said. Emily cocked her head to one side.

"Was? But isn't today August 8?" she said.

"That's right," I said, confused. "August 8 2107." Emily's eyes widened.

"Oh dear," she said. "It seems the Doctor's coordinates were off, as always. He was meant to be gone only a month, but instead it's been … oh my god…"

"It doesn't matter," I assured her. "I spoke to Rose yesterday, and she'd still love to see the Doctor. She'd probably do anything to see him again." Emily lowered her head.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. She didn't respond, then I realised something. "Emily, where _is _the Doctor?" Emily bit her lip.

"I'm so sorry," she said, sitting down next to me. "Last night he …oh God … he, he … died." I gasped, but then remembered what Rose had told me.

"Okay, so he'll look a little different. I'm sure Rose won't mind. She got over it the first time." Emily shook her head, and I noticed her eyes were wet.

"No," she said. "He didn't regenerate."

"But … how is that possible?" I asked, my heart sinking.

"He was on his last life," said Emily. "His thirteenth body. He'd been searching for Rose for a long time. He hoped he could see her again, but they wouldn't let us out of here." I had a flashback of the news report the previous day:

_All the arrivals are being given health checks, however there was one elderly man who kept refusing to have one and insisted that he be allowed to leave…_

"No," I said. "No, he can't…"

"They took his body away before I could do anything," Emily said, tears running down her face. "Hopefully they'll bury him in peace, but if they decide to do an autopsy…"

"They'll realise he's an alien," I finished. I ran my hands through my hair. "Oh God, what am I going to tell Rose? I'm meant to be seeing her this afternoon. How can I break it to her?"

"I don't know," confessed Emily. "All I know is that the Doctor cared about her more than he cared about anything else in the whole of time and space. He'd always tell me stories about her – about her beauty, her bravery, how she made him want to live again, how she gave up her family just to be with him … and he told me that he'd never stop looking for her, no matter what. He told me he'd never say never ever. He'd never give up on her. Because he loved her with all his hearts, and nothing in the world would ever change that." Tears ran down my face.

"That's so …" I began, but words couldn't describe how the Doctor's words made me feel. Wiping my eyes, I tried to change the subject.

"Where's the TARDIS?" I asked meekly.

"On the corner of this street," said Emily quietly. "And I can't pilot it back to my universe, so I guess I'm stuck here."

"Isn't there an Emergency Programme or something?" I asked, remembering the one from Rose's story.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't work across universes," replied Emily. "The only way we got here was through a rip in the fabric of time and space. The TARDIS isn't powerful enough to target it a second time in a row. Remember, she's just about as old as the Doctor."

"Oh yeah," I said. "So will you be all right? Did you have any family or friends back in your own universe?" Emily shook her head.

"I lived on the street," she said. "Either there or hanging around the local youth centre. Travelling with the Doctor gave me a fresh start, but hey, I guess I can get that here as well." I nodded.

"Well, I guess I'd better be going," I said. "Maybe I'll see you round some time."

"Yeah, okay," said Emily. "Good luck with everything." I could tell that by everything she meant Rose.

"Thanks," I said. I slowly walked out of the church, feeling numb inside. Everything was just shaken up. What was I going to do? As I turned, I saw a big blue box out of the corner of my eye. Had this been ordinary circumstances I probably would have ignored it, but now I ran to it. When I reached it I leaned against its door and I cried.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When I arrived at the nursing home I still had no idea what I was going to do. Maybe if I was lucky, Rose would have forgotten all about the previous day. Maybe she wouldn't even remember me. She was old, after all. But when I got to her room, I discovered her bed bare and being stripped down. I immediately thought the worst.

"Where's Miss Tyler?" I asked worriedly. The nurse grunted.

"She had a little heart scare this morning," she said. "She's been moved to Room 7."

"What's Room 7 for?" I persisted.

"Let's just say the majority of our power bill comes from that room alone," she said. I gulped and made my way through the building, until I finally came to Room 7. I softly knocked, then made my way in. At the end of the room, I saw Rose, an oxygen mask on her face.

"R-Rose?" I stammered. "Are you okay?" Rose nodded and took the mask off.

"Never better," she said.

"Uh, don't you want to leave that on?" I asked, indicating towards the oxygen mask.

"According to the bill passed in 2056, people can't be kept alive against their will," said Rose. "I called the church this morning. They said they didn't have anyone there called the Doctor, John Smith or anything else."

_He was already gone by then_, I realised. "But that's no reason to stop living. You've accomplished so much in your life, and you've inspired _me _to do more with my life." I picked up her papers, which had been placed on the desk next to her bed. "This is the proof that you are such an incredible person."

"Those papers are just stories of events that happened in another lifetime," said Rose, taking them from me. "No one cares what an old bird like me did a hundred years ago. I may as well get rid of them." She took the first page and went to rip it.

"No!" I exclaimed as the paper was torn in half. I took the rest of the bundle and placed it safely on the ground. "Please stop. The world needs to know stories like yours. The world needs hope that we can do extraordinary things." Rose had stopped, so I thought I'd gotten through to her. But then I noticed with dread that her eyes had closed, and I couldn't hear her breathing.

"Rose!" I cried. "Come on Rose, don't die…" Rose's eyes slowly opened, but she looked very weak.

"There's no point in anything anymore," she whispered. "The Doctor will never come."

"That's not true," I said.

"Yes it is," said Rose.

"No it isn't," I said defiantly. "Rose, he's coming." Rose sat up.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "How would you know if he's coming or not?"

"I do know," I answered. "Because he sent me." Yes, I was lying. I needed to give the poor woman some hope.

"I don't believe you," said Rose.

"He_ did_," I insisted. "He sent me to find you, to make sure you were safe. Doesn't that sound like him?" Rose's breathing slowed down.

"Yes," she admitted.

"He sent me to find the woman who made him want to live again, doesn't that sound like him?" I continued.

"Yes," agreed Rose.

"And he never said never ever," I said, my voice getting softer. "He never stopped looking, throughout all that time, he never stopped looking until he found you." A small smile came over Rose's face.

"He's coming Rose, he's coming here, right now," I said. "He's coming, coming to be with you … he's coming, he's coming…"

"Doctor," whispered Rose, her eyes slowly closing. A single tear ran down my face as I checked Rose's pulse. It was gone.

"He's here," I finished.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rose Tyler was the most fantastic human being I have ever met. She taught me to believe in myself and the possibilities of life. She taught me what was important and what matters most. And she taught me that even the most ordinary person can accomplish extraordinary things. Which is why I, Edith Black, have taken it upon myself to publish her memoirs. They are 2 years of tales that will make even the most sceptical person believe in the impossible. Each tale builds up into a story of action, adventure, drama, and a hint of romance, all to create:

THE LEGEND OF ROSE TYLER

**The End **

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_So, shall you kill me now, or later? Everyone was telling me how much they wanted some sort of reunion, but it was always essential that I use the tragic ending of **Casanova**. I hope it was okay. _


End file.
